Regional accent variations?

[Lusty]

Down in my neck of the woods,you only have to travel 8 miles in one direction to notice a difference in accents.Yet if I go 76 miles north into Cambridge they sound exactly the same,Essex is very different,Sunderland,Newcastle virtually cannot understand if there are a few of them talking together.

The East Anglians sound similar to those from the West country etc etc.

In America there is a big diffrence between the north and southern states.In Australia they all sound the same,and in Thailand the dialect/accent changes dramatically the close you get to Lao or Cambodia.

Another thing that is interesting that someone from the North of England thinks that people from Kent sound like London cockneys but to us the Londoners sound totally different::

What about other countries?Do you have these regional dialect/accent variants?

[Nervous_Dog]

It's all the bicycles fault!

 

DOG

[sayjann]

as you know i live in Hampshire and the old Couple next to me had never travelled more than 20 Miles from Pompey in their lifetime.

they were in their 70's when we moved in around 40 Years ago and i remember them talking to me about the early Days of the 20th Century.

wish i could remember what they told me but the 'Hampshire Burr' was so thick i hardly understood a word.

i find the further West you go (Kent to Cornwall) then i find the accent gets more thicker and less understandable if the person wants to speak to you with the thick accent.

 

i have no problems with the Midlands or North of England.

Scotland brings up different problems.

Fife People are hard to understand but the further North i travelled the easier i found it to understand them.

i found that surprising as i would have thought it the other way round.

the further North you went then the harsher the accent.

 

i have a problem with Aussies and Kiwi's,i just cannot tell them apart.

i work with both and if someone new i have to ask questions to find out where they come from.

they get upset if i confuse a Kiwi with an Aussie or vice versa.

 

i had a surprise when chatting to Filipino Friends,it seems it is similer to Thailand.

people from the North have problems understanding Southern people when they speak Tagalog.

this was surprising to me because of the Western influence.

 

Lusty.

i must admit you do have a nice 'Country Yokel' aspect........

not dissing you at all,i just think that you have a good accent.

[Guest lazyphil]

listen to a 'cambridge cockney' (the london/eastend decendents that left london in the blitz and stayed) then listen to someone from ely just 15 miles north, very very different accent--try figuring out what an irish pikey raised in the cambridgeshire fens is talking about, more chance understanding swahili :: , why not take a day trip to oakington immigration reception centre one sunday, lots of dialects to mull over!....canvey island i would say is east anglian, sound nothing like someone from downham market ::

[Lusty]

Arr,Downham Market.This place conjures up images of gin clear,barren,fishless ditches,fields of cauliflowers and six fingered men playing the banjo!

We call people from Norfolk and Suffolk Carrotcrunchers down here!

And to the American boardies,what the fuck is a Redneck and why is it an insult?Thanx

[Flashermac]

Redneck = country and probably uneducated. (Redneck from working out in the sun.)

 

Redneck is about the only insult you are allowed to use in the States, for some reason. Insult someone for their race or religion, and you'll get smacked in the chops. But somehow the liberals -- mainly urban and damnyankee -- have decided it's all right to insult rural folks, especially from the South.

[dddave]

Before the 1950's, you not only could tell what borough a New Yorker was from, a keen ear could narrow it down to specific districts. Brooklyn especially had an amazing range of accents, all steming from the many immigrant groups that settled in different areas.

Todays immigrants seem to be more concerned with maintaining their national characters and are less willing to jump into the melting pot.

 

I can still remember the voice of a cab driver who drove my parents and me on my first visit to NYC when I was seven; "Ya' wanna godah toiwty toiwd street? There ain't nuttin' on toiwty toiwd!"

[Guest lazyphil]

This plank is from Downham Market

[Lusty]

I see where your comming from but anyone who gives organised religion a bashing!

If he falls into the River Thurne he'll sink straight to the bottom with all that gold on!

[spirit_of_town_hall]

Very interesting observation Lusty. Britain has huge regional variations in accent. Eg. Someone from South Manchester will sound different to someone from Salford in North Manchester, but to say Southerners like yourself Lusty they will sound the same.

 

The reason a Kent accent sounds the same as a Cambridge accent is due to it being a Medway accent also...

 

Historically Cambridge and Kent are the same people or at least very similar..

 

 

Class is also a factor, a barrister in Newcastle will sound the same as a Barrister in London and Belfast, Regional accents vary according to the social class of the individual...

 

When I talk to old friends in Scotland they sound English, similarly in Ireland the upper classes talk like Southern English, hence the insult "west brits"

 

Please board members correct me if I am wrong; the UK is the one country where as soon as someone opens their mouth you can tell their class, educational level and area in the country where they come from....

 

I have heard Canada has the least variation, is this the case.

 

STH